


Can You Feel This Magic in the Air

by ryry_peaches



Series: Flufftober 2020 [10]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Fairy Tale Style, Flufftober, M/M, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 06:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26967331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryry_peaches/pseuds/ryry_peaches
Summary: Prince David leads a lonely life in the castle.  Patrick leaves his village looking for a new start.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Series: Flufftober 2020 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949071
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	Can You Feel This Magic in the Air

**Author's Note:**

> me? finishing a prompt over 24 hours late?? more likely than you think! For flufftober prompt "Once upon a time." Title from Taylor Swift.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a prince, and his name was David Rose. David's family name fit him well, because he was beautiful, but he was also thorny and sharp, likely to prick anyone who came too close.

Prince David's family was fabulously wealthy and famous; his parents ruled kindly but distantly, just as they ran their family, and his sister, Princess Alexis, was beautiful in that unreachable way that princesses often are. 

Princess Alexis was Prince David's friend when they were very small, but nearly as soon as the clock struck midnight on her sixteenth birthday, her parents permitted her to leave her studies and her country and go galavanting about with other young royals. She adored travelling and socializing, and once again David, at the lean age of twenty, was left alone.

David took to haunting the library and the kitchen of his family's castle, or wandering the gardens and outbuildings of their sprawling estate. He befriended the cook and the gardener, and spent hours talking with his old tutor. He became wonderfully well-read and well-fed, but after a few years, he began to lose what social graces his parents had carefully bred into him. With only his staff as friends, he grew odd and quiet.

In a small village in the Roses' country, not far from the grand city where they lived in their beautiful castle, there was a young musician. He spent his days playing his music in the town square, earning enough gold to put bread on his table. His name was Patrick.

Patrick was betrothed to a beautiful young woman named Rachel, envied throughout the village for her slight frame and auburn hair, and equally loved for her gentle soul and quick wit. Patrick and Rachel had been promised to one another in their youth, and had grown up best friends. Yet Patrick dreaded their approaching nuptials.

Finally, just a few months away from their impending wedding, Patrick decided he must be honest with Rachel. "I value your friendship too much to marry you," he said, holding her hand in her little bedchamber. "I love you, but I'm not in love with you."

Rachel wept, and Patrick felt wretched, but she told him that she understood, and that she loved him, and he felt light.

Patrick knew that he could not stay in his village and face the questions and the ire of the townspeople, who would be angry to see Rachel hurt. Patrick packed his bag, and late in the night he bargained a day's earnings from his music for a ride in a carriage of vagabonds on their way to the city.

Patrick began to ask around for work the moment his boots touched the stone roads of the city. Eventually, he was sent to apprentice for the sole librarian in town. Only, "I'm not the only librarian, exactly," Ray explained, almost the moment Patrick arrived at the library, which was grander than Patrick had ever imagined such a place could be. "There is another, retained at the castle. Rumor has it that Prince David is quite the avid reader."

"Is the castle library at all this large, or beautiful?" Patrick asked.

Ray wasn't sure, as he'd never seen it. "But it must be quite beautiful," he said. "It is, after all, in a castle."

This made sense to Patrick, and he asked no more questions as they began their work.

The cold season came and went, and came and went again. Patrick learned his trade well, and settled into a quiet routine, sharing both the work of the library and the home in the chambers above it with Ray. Then one day, news came from the castle.

"The royal librarian has retired to the countryside," Ray told Patrick, excited. "How would a promotion interest you?"

Patrick liked his life in the city, but he thought life in the castle proper must be quite exciting, so he agreed, and once again packed his things — this time, however, a private carriage was sent for him, and he rode to the castle in silence.

The castle staff greeted Patrick kindly, and led him to the library. "You might find the prince strange," the cook, Stevie, a lovely dark-haired woman about Patrick's own age, warned him, "but he has a very kind heart. He's always treated me as a friend."

Stevie led Patrick to the library.

Patrick was shocked by the library's grandeur, even when he'd seen much of the castle already. It was only a bit smaller than the one in the city, and far more beautiful, with beautiful glass lamps adorning the tables and casting shadows over armchairs upholstered in silk, and shelves built into the tall walls, made of a dark wood and so tall that a ladder on wheels had been erected for reaching tall shelves.

As Patrick stood looking in awe at the library, a tall figure approached him from behind. "My sister is in France," a man said, and Patrick startled and turned to see a dark-haired, dark-eyed man, dressed in the finest and most outlandish clothes Patrick had ever seen. "You won't find her here."

Patrick smiled at the man. "I'm not looking for any sisters. You must be Prince David." He extended a hand to shake.

The prince frowned, and did not take his hand. "Who are you?"

"Oh, forgive me," Patrick said. He felt that he was bungling this introduction horribly. "I'm the new librarian. I understand the last one retired. My name is Patrick."

"Hmm," Prince David said. "Are you well-read, Patrick?"

"Not as well as you, I'm sure."

Prince David smiled. "Well, you're welcome to anything here. There's a spot in the east garden that's especially lovely for reading in the afternoon." And with that he disappeared into the shelves.

Over the next few weeks, Patrick learned that his job was strikingly easy — he coordinated with Ray to bring copies of new books to the castle library, and he kept the shelves dusted and organized, and he tried to read books that Prince David had read, because he was beginning to understand that the most important part of his new life in the castle was his budding friendship with the prince.

Patrick was surprised to realize, after a few weeks more, that he now thought of Prince David simply as David, with no title. He felt more like a friend than a member of the staff.

It was but weeks after that that Patrick realized, to his own immense surprise, that he was falling in love with the prince.

Several months into Patrick's employment, David stalked into the library with an air of storm-clouds about him. "Are you alright?" Patrick asked.

David scowled. "My parents are off to London on a diplomatic journey today," he said.

"Oh?" Patrick hadn't seen much of the king and queen in his time at the castle; they travelled often, after all. Patrick wasn't sure why this time was important.

"It's my birthday," David said. "I didn't intend to spend it alone."

"Oh," Patrick said again. He paused, considering his words carefully, and finally made a decision. "It might be improper, but…you could spend it with me."

A hint of a smile crossed David's face. "You're just seeking a day off," he accused.

Patrick smiled back. "A day off to celebrate a good friend."

So they spent the day together, in the gardens, in the library, and at the end of the day they went together to the grand dining hall. When Stevie brought out their meal — a simple affair, as David never asked for full banquets when his parents were away, but simply good, warm food for himself and the staff — David put a hand on her arm and implored her to stay.

Patrick felt self-conscious under Stevie's gaze, but he couldn't lose his nerve — he pushed David's birthday gift across the table. "For you."

David opened it with a puzzled smile. "A book," he said, and looked at the title. "One of my favorites." He didn't mention that he already owned it, for which Patrick was grateful.

"That was the first book I ever re-shelved for you," Patrick said. "I ordered a new copy, and I — I inscribed it for you."

David's eyes went very wide, and he bit his lip. Stevie excused herself quietly. "I have dishes to wash," she said.

When their dinner was over, David led Patrick out to the east garden. Cloaked by sparkling starlight, David put a hand on Patrick's cheek and kissed him.

In a few years, David and Patrick would be married in the autumn. A few years after that, David's father, King Johnny, would retire, and David would ascend the throne, inviting his sister to rule by his side, her years of building relationships with other royals proving indispensable. 

But Patrick didn't know any of that that night; only that the champaign on David's lips made their kiss taste like the stars that shone over them, and that an orchestra swelled in his heart, and that when he said "Goodnight, Prince David," it felt like he was saying hello.

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is @loveburnsbrighter. Come say hi :-)


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